Jones says Cowboys will require players to stand for anthem

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Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones arrives for the NFL owners meeting in New York City, NY, U.S. October 17, 2017. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones isn’t waiting for the NFL and its players association to come to an agreement on a policy regarding whether players must stand at attention during the national anthem. He already has decided what his team will do.

“Our policy is you stand during the anthem, toe on the line,” Jones said Wednesday in a news conference.

Jones said the Cowboys also will not tolerate players remaining in the locker room during the anthem instead of standing on the field.

The NFL owners had agreed to a policy in May that said that if players weren’t going to stand for the anthem, they needed to stay in the locker room until just before the game. The NFL rescinded that policy last week after the players union filed a grievance and said it could take legal action. The two sides are in negotiations.

The issue about players standing for the national anthem arose during the 2016 preseason, when former San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick first sat, then took a knee, during the anthem to protest what he viewed as racial inequality and police brutality. Since then, a number of NFL players have joined in the protest.

The issue has escalated, in part, because of President Donald Trump’s vocal opposition of players who protest during the anthem. On Friday, he called via Twitter for players to be forced to sit out the game if they fail to stand for the anthem. If they do it a second time, players should be suspended without pay for the season, Trump wrote.